Before he became Shed, Shed used to earn a crust in what you might call creative marketing. This took him to the headquarters of car manufacturers both at home and abroad.
Well this looks rather shiny for a Shed!
On one overcast Friday morning in April 2005, Shed was leaving Longbridge after signing up the MG Rover folk for a special project on the Rover Streetwise. Smiling with satisfaction at a job well done, he clicked on the car radio as he was driving past the immense - no other word could adequately describe its size - and fully staffed Sales & Marketing hangar. The lead story on the radio was the fact that Rover had just become insolvent. Shed's job was toast.
There had been much talk of MG Rover's collapse in the months leading up to that fateful Friday, but the so-called 'Phoenix Four' bosses had done such a fine job of convincing the workforce that everything would all be all right, nobody at Longbridge - including the folk Shed was talking to - saw it coming, right up to the day that it happened.
And you thought wood in a Rover looked bad...
Understandably, most public sympathy went to the 6,300 workers at Longbridge who were pitched out of a job, while the Filthy Four pocketed £9 million each. But you also had to feel sorry for the designers and engineers who for those last disastrous years were reduced to trinketing up ageing models that were never going to be replaced. It was all a bit of a shame really because there were some very decent cars going on underneath that bling of desperation.
In the final clearout, the last Rover 75s crossed Birmingham auction floors at £2,000 a pop, incredible bargains at that price. Some of the smaller Rovers and MGs ended up with all the visual desirability of a four-day old balti takeaway, thanks to the excessive layering-on of chromey tat, but the essence of cars like this MG ZR was of a comfortable and sweet-handling little car with a friendly character.
For some, the traditional answer to the question 'what to look out for when buying an MG ZR' is 'a scrap yard', but this would be an unfair judgement. Yes, they do have head gasket issues, but these are not expensive to fix once and for all with the SAIC-engineered steel gasket kit. The seats are comfy but fragile.
Original parts needed here. Wiper for a start!
The interiors can be a little rattly generally, as can the engine when it's cold. The Security Control Unit that runs the horn, windows, alarm and central locking on '03-'05 cars is a weak point too but again there's an SAIC kit to sort that.
On the positive side, this one doesn't have the rattly sunroof. There used to be a problem getting body parts but that's been resolved now. Interestingly, a 1.4 on throttle bodies can be taken to over 190hp. If you can ignore the nasty rear light reflectors, the cheesy tailpipe detailing and the minging grille, this is a decent choice if you're looking for the newest car for your money.
Watch out for the new SAIC MGs, by the way. At the risk of overstepping his mark, Shed reckons the 3s are excellent value and the 6 is a fine-handling (and good looking) car that just needs slightly better engines - which are on the way. Shed believes these cars might just rescue the reputation of the modern MG, at which point this ZR - backed by the determination of SAIC - might look like even better value.
Blue.
2 Registered Keepers, LOW MILEAGE.MOT 1 YEAR, Remote Central Locking, Power Steering, Drivers Airbag, Passenger Airbag, Alloy Wheels, Immobiliser